Syringa (1978). Elliott Carter

Musicwhore doesn't like it but has a good comment re: Elliott Carter's Syringa compared to other of the composer's works:

Syringa is by far the most obtuse of the three, and it's angularity is
only heightened by the populism of Holiday Overture and Suite from
Pocahontas.

carter on syringa: This attracted me because of its fascinating, distant, quiet treatment
of a familiar, many-sided, affecting subject: Orpheus and the power of
music. liner notes: Syringa is the most original of Carter's creations. It is not
a song cycle, but a new genre: a cantata, a chamber opera, a
polytextural motet, and a vocal double concerto all in one. lawrence kramer on the text: True, the meditative voice may make this generous acknowledgment of the power of song only in order to get beyond it, to say that "it isn’t enough / To just go on singing."